The Wind Walker
by Cuervo Blanco
Summary: "BELIEVE IN THE COLLECTIVE POWER OF THE INDIVIDUAL." Slow going naruhina, slow update.
1. 1st Wind: Gust

**The Wind Walker**

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><p><strong>Prototype. <strong>

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><p><em>"I have in my hands the means and in my heart the will." -<em>Death Note-

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><p>The stadium was full with shinobi and civilians alike. They were roaring for some action, to see a good show, but, above all, they wanted to see the carnage that the new generation could unleash. And Shiranui Genma felt that it would be boring...at least for him, being the proctor in the finals of the Chuunin Exams. After Hayate, his dear late friend and comrade, had been killed, along side the only genin of Otogakure no Sato, it had felt upon him the l<em>uck and honor <em>to be the referee of the matches.

"_Curse you Ebisu, for making me take your place by claiming the money that I own you since last poker night game." _Thought Genma bitterly before resigning himself ot his fate. "Hey, kid." called Genma to the closest genin who was not other than Aburame Shino. "Where is the Uzumaki kid and his teammate, the Uchiha?" He knew, like almost every active ninja in the village, the chronic tardiness of Hatake Kakashi. He sincerely hoped that they weren't affected by his annoying _disease_ or they were going to be disqualified. Who he was kidding? The least gennin, the faster he could get the heck out of there!

"I'm not aware of there whereabouts. Base of previous experiences, is very likable that both of them are doing some last minute training. " said Shino in his monotone voice. He really sound like a robot when he talk.

"I see. Well, if they..." but what ever he was about to say was cut short by something falling from the sky. He immediately recognized the flashes of orange and yellow in the object, identifying no other than Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's resident jinchuuriki.

The cloud of smoke and the loud thud of something hitting the ground front a high altitude followed the desperate cry of the blond for help.

"Ita...ita... ouch. Stupid, bastard, crazy jiji..." murmured the blond while he picked himself of the ground like falling from 30 meters high was a everyday occurrence. Maybe for him, it was.

"Hey brat, _nice_ entrance." say Genma, his usual sembon-like-toothpick in his mouth, quite sarcastically. "Stop fooling around and line yourself with the others." Naruto only give his patented foxy grin, eyes closed in thin lines and ear to ear smile, while scratching the back of his head while he did what he was told while masterly ignoring the whispers and comments of mock and contempt. "Hey brat, where is you companion, the Uchiha?"

"Like heck I know!" said the blond quite bitterly. Genma was taken aback by the venom of hi voice but let it slide.

"Oh well, if he doesn't show up in time he will disqualified, not that I care."

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><p>In the Kage's stand, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, was face palming himself at Naruto's antics. He noticed that the blond usual orange jumpsuit was battered and full of patches, dirt and holes. It was an understatement the fact that it had seen better days.<p>

"_Still, how he ended falling from the sky like that? Did somebody threw him from afar? The only one capable of such thing is Tsunade, but she is not here, isn't she?" _Thought the old Hokage.

"Hokage-sama, who is the blond kid?" asked the veiled face of the Kazekage, who was also attending the finals, since his children all made it into them.

"Oh, he is a fine young gennin. His name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uzumaki? Does he has any relationship with _that _clan_?_" asked the Kazekage in a mildly curious tone. "He doesn't posses their usual redhead."

"Oh no, Kazekage-dono. He is just one of the many orphans that resulted of the Kyuubi attack. He just was registered with that name to give him something to belong." the Kazekage seemed a peaced with the explanation and left it there. "_That was closed. I still forget that there are many people that still know the history of Uzu._"

"I don't see the _last_ Uchiha anywhere, I thought that he made it into the finals. Does anything _happened_ to him, Hokage-sama?"

"Don't worry Kazekage-dono, he will be here. If it comes to it, we will moved his match only he arrives."

"Hmm, very well. I want that my son, Gaara, defeat the infamous Uchiha blood and proved the powerfulness of Suna."

"Don't get too excited, Kazekage-dono, you may be surprised."

"We will see indeed."

Satisfied, the Hokage nodded to Genma who understood the message of getting the ball rolling already.

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><p>"Okay, now, we will begin the Finals of the Chuunin exam. Hyuuga Neji and Uzumaki Naruto stay while the others go to the participants' stand." ordered the chuunin.<p>

The rest of the chuunin-wannabies did as told, while Naruto and Neji readied themselves and faced each other. It seemed that Neji decided to made the obvious, at least to him, known.

"You should give up, Uzumaki-san. Fate has decided my victory over you today, so stop and useless waste of time and give up." said the prodigy arrogantly.

Naruto decided to pull a Kakashi out in this one. "Eh, did you say something?" he said while stretching a little bit.

"Stop trying to be cool, loser. You will never defeat me no matter how hard you try. You are a dead last while I'm a prodigy and the rookie of my graduation year. Fate had give you a bad hand, as a shinobi made a tactical retreat and live for another day."

"Does eyes of yours can see the future? Because my eyes only see you in the floor, defeated by the awesomeness of my punches." said Naruto in his usual self.

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><p>"Hokage-sama, don't you think that pairing the dead last against a prodigy of the Hyuuga clan is a tad too... unbalanced." said the Kazekage quite amused.<p>

"Maybe Kazekage-dono, but Naruto has the talent to surprised the most experienced of nijas. He may do it again."

"You speak highly of this gennin, maybe I should pay a close eye on him also."

"That you should, Kazekage-dono, or you may miss something very interesting."

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><p>"Did you hear? The demon brat actually things that he can defeat one of the mighty Hyuuga."<p>

"Well, he is a demon, maybe he will reveal his true self and defeat him."

"But wasn't he the dead last of his year? I heard that he repeated the exam three times."

"Remember that his _kind _are trickster."

These, and similar comments could be heard by Hyuuga Hiashi, who had both his daughters next to him while examining the public and the participants of the Finals. He didn't care about the demon brat, since it didn't concerned him, and at the light of his Byakugan he knew that the chances of the Uzumaki kid defeating Neji, a genius even by their standards, was bar to none. Still, he knew by experiences that a small surprise was enough to take down the mightiest of the shinobi.

But this was a great chance to proved why the Hyuuga was the best of the best.

Hyuuga Hinata, in the other hand, had other thoughts.

"_Naruto-kun, please, don't kill him, as you promised me. Neji is suffering even more than my body is with these wounds. Make him understand, make him see the hurt on his soul."_

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><p>"Hey, Shino, don't you see anything different in Naruto?" asked Shikamaru to the Aburame, gaining the attention of the rest fo the finalists.<p>

"Indeed. Uzumaki-san seems more...secure and calmer than usual. Perhaps he was an ace under his sleeves?"

"Troublesome." murmured Shikamaru while returning his gaze to the fighters, silently pondering Shino's words.

The rest of the gennin didn't understood was was going on.

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><p>"Are you two ready?" asked Genma to both of them, gaining a nod from both. "Then, the first match of the semifinals of the Chuunin Exams begins. HAJIME!" And with that he shunshin himself out of there, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire.<p>

Neji inmediately fall in a Juunken stance while waiting his opponent to make the first move. He knew that Naruto was an impatient individual and thus, he was bound to lose his cool first and attack, giving Neji and opening. He didn't had to wait long, but not in the way that he was expecting.

Widing his eyes, Neji pulled himself down avoiding by mere inches a a high rolling kick. Rolling out of there as said kick changed its trajectory into his direction, Neji was forced once again to avoid with masterful grace another kick, along side a punch, heading his way.

"_Clones? How? And they are solid. But he didn't moved or maid any hangings. Then how? It was like they..."_

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><p>"<em>... shimmering into existence. It was like they appeared out the thin air." <em>Thought the Hokage quite surprised._ "No hand sings, no smoke of burning chackra. Naruto, how did you gained such control over this technique? Was this the focus of last month training? You surprise me Naruto. A kage bushin without smoke means that you had perfect chakra control, and not only that, the technique without seals tells a mastery over it that not many people achieve." _The Hokage noted that, while the clones were assaulting Neji before being quickly dispatched before being replace by more clones in the process that were appearing out of nothingness, shimmering into the field, Naruto had put a considerable distances between the busy Hyuuga and himself, and was watching rather attentively how his minions were facing the prodigy. _"Did you also discovered the secret behind the kage bushin? Not only that, but it seems that you are able to summon them even at certain range, while most people can only summon them at mere inches from themselves. Naruto, once again you had surprise me."_

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><p>The audience was in awe. They were watching how Hyuuga Neji, the rookie of last year gennin batch, was being overwhelmed by blond replicas that were appearing out of nowhere.<p>

Maito Gai, could see the frown of frustration in his misguided student, and could see that thing would be turning pear shape very soon. Still, he couldn't help but be impressed by Naruto's simple but effective tactic of tiring his student. Not only that, but he could see the difference between the Uzumaki from a moth ago and this one. While the former had a pedestrian taijutsu at best, more suited for a drunken brawler that had never fought in his life, this Uzumaki had fluid grace of movements that, while not as elegant as the Juunken and powerful as the Gouken, was quite effective.

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><p>Things weren't going according to plan for one Hyuuga Neji. For the last five minutes he had been moving dodging and dispelling the loser clones and he knew that the kid was only trying to tire him rapidly. And the worst, he was succeeding.<p>

It wouldn't long before Neji start to tire enough for him to make mistakes. He knew it, and he knew that the loser knew it.

"_Dam. To think that I have to use _that technique _agaisnt the likes of him so soon isn't good. But if I don't use it, then I'm done for." _

Naruto, in the other hand, could see that Neji's body was tensing, which meant that he was about to do something big. _"Hummp. It seems that he is about to use a special technique of the Juunken, and by the looks of it, he is confident that he will win the match with it. Like any taijutsu based technique, he will need proximity to use it, so, why not use it against him? Yeah, that sounds like a plan. You will pay for what you did to Hinata-chan, dattebayo!"_

Neji noticed an opening and started to slowly approach Naruto while facing the horde of clones. He noticed the improvement in their taijutsu style and efficiency, but still were not match for his Juunken. When he was close enough, Neji quickly dispatched the clones before they could re-spawn gain and decided to marvel the world with one of the Hyuuga famous technique.

"Sorry, but you are in the way of may divination."

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><p>"<em>That stance! Neji, how you...?" <em>thought the shocked leader of the Hyuuga clan. Hanabi and Hinata also recognized the stances and were not lest shocked than their father.

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><p>"<strong>Soft Palm Style: Sixty-four strikes of the trigram! <strong>Two strikes, four strikes, eight strikes, sixteen strikes, thirty-two strikes, sixty-four strikes." It was an impressive barrage of hits. Each time, the number doubled themselves while the speed and viciousness also increase in the boy without losing rhythm or accuracy.

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><p>"Wow." exclaimed Ino, who was sitting next to Sakura and her father, whistling in appreciation. "One hundred and twenty-six strikes in least than twenty seconds, no wonder that the Juunken is considered the strongest in Konoha. Poor Naruto, he looked so cool and surprised me with his opening assault. I thought for a second he would win. What do you think billboard forehead?"<p>

"I don't think he will be able to get out of this one." say Sakura after a while. "Thought he had improved a lot."

"Yeah, I think that you are right. There is no way that the dead last could beat a prodigy like Neji."

"_I don't be so sure Ino. The ninja world is full of surprises." Thought_ Inoichi, without taking his eyes from the match.

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><p>"Is over loser. This is what happens when ones tries to challenge Fate and..." but before he could finish, his Byakugan saw how multiples clones shimmered into existences and started to throw him kunais at point-blank-range.<p>

Neji body reacted before he registered what was happening.

"**Hakkeshou: Kaiten!"** a huge dome of chakra appeared around the boy protecting him from the assault of dangerously pointy kunais. A closer inspection would had reveal that said kunais, when they collided with the chakra dome, disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

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><p>"<em>Not only one of our most power combos, but also our absolute defense. Neji, how had you come this far without me noticing? Maybe I have invested my efforts in the wrong way." <em>Thought Hiashi while quickly gazing the failure of daughter next to him.

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><p>"You were right Hokage-sama, that kid is indeed surprising."<p>

"Indeed, Kazekage-dono. But I admit that I wasn't expecting something close to this."

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><p>Genma was surprised, as everybody in the stadium, at the turn of events. He, like everybody else, were expecting a quick victory for the Hyuuga, while they waited for the main event: Sabaku no Gaara vs Uchiha Sasuke. But know Genma could see everybody in the stadium at the edge of their seats, paying close attention to the match.<p>

"_Than blond kid is quite surprising. He invited Neji-san into a false security and let him reveal on of his techniques. At some point he made a clone and somehow substituted himself with it before reversing the trap against the Hyuuga, or he would if his opponent wouldn't have known such an advance defense. I wonder what the Kyuubi brat will do now." _Thought the proctor while analyzing the match from afar.

He could see how Naruto jump out of a tree in the other side of the field and started to walk before stopping where Neji's starting point was as the chackra dome dissipated.

Naruto taking a scroll out of his pouch, opening and unsealed a Fuuma Shuriken, before starting to spin it in his hand before throwing it when the chakra dome dissipated completely.

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><p>"Don't tell me he is going to use..." murmured Sakura in the stands while watching his teammate redefining all they knew about him.<p>

"Use what, big forehead?" asked Ino with her spiked curiosity.

"You will see, Ino-bunta."

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><p>"<em>You have to be kidding me. This kid is totally different from the one in the preliminary matches. How did he change so much? Is he an impostor?" <em>Thought Neji frustrated. He had used a lot of his chakra already while his opponent, a bug in his eyes, was looking quite fresh. His musing was cut short when the blond kid, that jumped out of a tree at the opposite side of the stadium, took out a Fuuma Shuriken and started to spin it. Neji, trying to gain time, was about to verbally attack him, but again was interrupted by the big metal throwing star being launched at him.

Said shuriken, having crossed ¾ of the distance that separated them, suddenly revealed that it wasn't along, but a second fuuma shuriken was also launched.

"_He concealed the second shuriken in the shadow of the first, an impressive, if simple, tactic... but this will not be enough."_ And with his usual grace, Neji jumped out of harms way. That's when, both shuriken having pass him, his Byakugan saw how the unthinkable happened: the shurikens changed, once again without smoke, into clones.

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><p>"<em>He summoned his clones an henged them into fuuma shuriken, making believe Neji that his plan was the second shuriken, basically fainting a faint." <em>though Tenten amazed at the blond kids plan. His weapon handling skills could improve, though were decent, but it was how he use them in his tactics to trap Neji that impressed her the most. _"That kid, he knows the true meaning of deception, and I think that he had all of us played like fools." _Noting the surprised looks in her peers and senseis.

"_But what was that..."_

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><p>"<em>... henge?"<em> Thought Mitarashi Anko among the public._ "It wasn't an illusion. It was a solid Fuuma Shuriken out of there. I haven't heard of such variant fo the henge and say that, used to its full potential, it would be one of the most dangerous techniques known to the shinobi world."_

And similar thoughts were running among the ninjas that were present. The Henge no Jutsu was an illusionary technique that blended the light around the caster and make it look like he or she was something else, giving the illusion of a transformation. You could not fly even if you henge into a bird or couldn't spit fire if you henge into a dragon, no, it was just a deceptive technique and quite basic. The reason why it was taught at the Acadamy was because it was easy to learn, and it was the foundation to learn more advanced illusions.

And now the dead last of his year, a pariah, had pretty much redefined the possibilities of this new Henge, if it could be called as such, in battle.

"_That technique is going to be in the Forbidden Scroll fro sure. Ibiki was right, that kid is quite interesting._"

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><p>"<em>How this is possible? Maybe the fox? It is said that Kitsunes are shape-shifters after all. I will need to talk with Naruto after all this is done, and Kakashi too. For some reason I don't think that Kakashi taught such a technique to a gennin." <em>thought the Hokage while the Kazekage was quite attentive of, the previous thought boring, match.

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><p>The now revealed clones took out of their pouches kunakis and shuriken before unleashing them unto Neji. The Hyuuga, deciding to conserve chakra, instead of using again the Kaiten decided to until reflect the projectiles while approaching the original Naruto. But Neji was wary, for all he knew, the blond could pull another of his traps.<p>

To his relief, this Naruto didn't exploded with the first hit, so it had to be the original. But his relief was short lived because, somehow, Naruto was blocking every single one of his Juunken strikes.

"Impossible!" was the only thing that Neji could said without stopping his assault of juunken strikes while Naruto block them with his own palm while the other wand was behind his back.

"Oh, did I gave you the impression that you could win? I'm deeply sorry." it may had sounded mocking, but Neji knew that the blond was dead serious, something that made him angrier than he was. "You were under the assumption that I was avoiding your attacks because they represented potential harm to my person. But you were wrong. I only avoided them because I just felt like it. Your prized Juunken is obsolete as is your narrow view of life."

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><p>"Father, I had been taught that our family technique was invincible and flawless. How, then, this nobody is rendering it useless?" asked Hanabi to his father, not quite understanding what was going on.<p>

"Our family taijutus IS flawless, dear daughter. Neji is superior both physically and in experience, but he had let that he temper and Uzumaki's words affect his judgment and that is resulting in him making mistakes." said Hiashi, knowing that all what he had said was BS, but his convincing power was never to be questioned, and his explanation calmed his daughter. "_Still, Hanabi had a point. Until now, not body had faced the Juunken and getting out, if possible, without permanent scars at least. Maybe the pariah, this bug, had succeeded in something that many great men and women had tried and failed? The Hyuuga may need to take some... drastic actions against him._" Thought Hiashi, while his other daughter had another thoughts.

"_You are wrong father. Naruto has the ability, and the will, to do the impossible. You know it, but you don't want to accept it." _were Hinata's thoughts while a small smile was on her face. Both her father and little sister noted this, but she didn't care. It was Naruto's time to shine after all!

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><p>"Neji, I'm getting bored. I think is time to finish this." and with that Naruto took both his palms and locked them with Neji's. The Hyuuga could feel how his chakra collided against Naruto's palms before being repelled back... painfully. "Did you like it? I called it <strong>Ninpou: Kame no koora<strong>. I created specially fro dealing with your prized Juunken."

"How are you able to do this? How you dare to challenge fate?" Neji could not understand it. This nobody, no, Uzumaki Naruto, was doing what was supposed to be impossible for the likes of him.

"Simple Neji: Because... I'm... AWESOME!" And as cued, Naruto's body exploded catching Neji in a ball of fire, or it would, if he hadn't reacted on instinct and activated his Kaiten. Still, since the attack was at point-blank range, he wasn't able to defend totally form the explosion.

The clones that Naruto had created earlier started to pull out more and more kunai and shuriken with the odd fuuma shuriken added into the mix, preventing Neji from stopping his Kaiten.

Another Naruto shimmered into existence and bit on of his finger, drawing blood from it. Rolling one of his sleeves, Naruto made a crossing line along his arm before pulsing his chakra.

"**Ninpou: Gia Sekando"** Instantly, the whole stadium felt, even some sensible civilians, a pulse of chakra that felt overwhelming. Hiashi, Hanabi and Hinata had to shut down their dojutsu immediately or the bright pulsing energy that their eyes were registering, or they would had ended blind. The rest of the present saw how all the energy retracted itself before condensing around Naruto's left arm. It was so dense that it was visible to the naked eye.

Naruto ready himself as the mass of chakra took the shape of a double edged sword.

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><p>"<em>Don't tell me that he is thinking to penetrate the Kaiten. That fool, if he try it the rapidly ration chakra will shred his arm in tiny little pieces." <em>Thought Hiashi, sure of the superiority of the Hyuuga legacy. Still, a small part of him felt uneasy, like something wasn't quite right.

And them, Uzumaki Naruto launched himself against the chakra dome with a speed that was hard to follow, even with especial dojutsus

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><p>Neji, whiel rotating under the kunais and shurikens assault, could only see in slow motion how his opponent unleashed an unbelievable amount of chakra and condensed in his left arm before launching himself against his Kaiten. Yeah, even if he knew that Naruto was approaching his safe haven easily with four or five times more the speed that he had displayed until that moment in their fight, even then, Neji was seeing him in slow motion.<p>

And he was scared.

His fear wasn't coming front the fact that the blond may penetrate his defense. No, what scared him the most was those azure eyes, eyes that he had seen in his crippled companion, Lee, until that this time it was a hundred fold worst. The eyes of a fighter that only could see the victory at his reach, in front of him, and would not let anything to be between it and them.

And thus, Neji could only watch how Naruto's chakra covered arm sliced through the Kaiten like a light-saber would into a snowman (yeah, I just put the old example of hot knife and butter in shame... Note: I took this form THIRD FANG).

In a blink of an eye, Naruto was at the other side, pass Neji with his arm extended like he had just made a cutting motion. And indeed, he had. The blond only murmured the name of the technique, but the silence was so deafening that everybody heard it.

"**Ninpou: Tateworono."**

Behind him, Neji was looking wide eyed into the sky, while he found that could move his body and couldn't feel his left arm. His Byakugan, though, was other matter, and thus he knew that his left arm was broken in several odd angles, most of his prideful long hair had been cut at shoulder's length and his left shoulder was bleeding profusely from a clean slash.

"How? How you were able to break the chains of fate?" asked the broken voice of Neji. His world had been destroyed with like it was paper tissue.

"Because, unlike you, I'm a loser." seeing that the Hyuuga frown in confusion, Naruto decided to elaborate. "Did you know that I had to repeat the academy final test three times? DId you know why? It was because the damned bushin technique. No matter how hard I practiced, how much I tried, I couldn't do a simple miserable bushin... And now, it is my best technique."

"Hinata told me about what happened between you two and your dad." this surprised Neji, but Naruto didn't let him talk. "I understand how you feel, if a little, but to think that you had unleashed you anger into her, when she wasn't anything but a little girl, is unthinkable. Did you know that my original plan was to kill you? Yeah Neji, Hinata-chan is very important to me, but you know what? She begged for your pathetic life, Yes Neji, Hinata begged into submission while coughing blood, thanks to the wounds that _you_ inflected her, that I spare your life, her dear Neji-nii-san."

And with that, Naruto started to walk away before stopping. He didn't turn around, but he pondered for a second his next words. "Neji, if Fate is a wheel, then we are the cogs that drive it". And with that he resumed his walk barely hearing the proctor declaring his victory.

The stadium was stunned and they didn't know what to think. One Umino Iruka was dancing in happiness though. He had bet on Naruto's win 200 to 1, and won like the bulk of one year and half worth of his salary.

Naruto stopped again, this time facing the public before raising his fist and grining in victory.

"MY NAME IS UZUMAKI NARUTO, YOU FUTURE HOKAGE. DATTEBAYO!"

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And finish.

ANd this is the prototype chapter of a plot that occurred to me recently. I hope you like it. DOnt expected updates anytime soon (though if I get many reviews that will change) because I'm focussing my efforts in Epiphany and Forsaken: Forgotten at the moment.

Any way, some translations:

**Ninpou: Kame no koora: **Ninja Art: Turtle's Shell. It creates a inner cloak of highly densed chakra that protects the internal organs and chakra network. It forms under the skin and has the side effect to block penetratin dojutsus as the Byakugan.

**Ninpou: Gia Sekando: **Ninja Art: Second Gear (cyber grandma' cookies for those that guest where the name is taken from.) It is simple unleashin sealed chakra from especial seals. Naruto had all over his body what is called **THe Danmed Seals, **because their use on shinobi presioners. These DS sealed 80 percent of a person total chakra and used the sealed energy to strengh itselg. Since Naruto has inhuman ammount of chakra, he use on per eahc tail that the demon fox has, depending of the number of the tail The second level, the one that he used in the fight, only onleashed his normal chakra, whoel the third level will unleashed the first chakra tail. The fourth, has two DS because it unleashes 2 tails, the fifth 3 DS for three tails and so on. He was ten levels and a total of 46 DS. And elite jounin will only need 2 max.

**Ninpou: Tateworono:** Ninja Art: Shield Breaker. As the name impplies, it similar to Hatake Kakashi's infamous RAIKIRI. Is highly condense chakra shaped to cut with easy alsmot anything. It was inspired by the chakra scalpels technique.


	2. 2nd Wind: Squall

**The Wind Walker**

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><p><strong>2do Wind: Squall<strong>

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><p>"<em>Don't grieve. Anything you lose comes round in another form." <em>-Jalal-Uddin Rumi-

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><p>The crowd was still roaring even when Naruto was climbing up the stairs that reached the participants' balcony. It had been a spectacular match, and was totally unexpected. Nobody, bar Iruka who was dancing in glee at his winnings, had guessed that the dead last of the academy had defeated a ninja of a prominent clan. Many speculated that it was all a fluke or it was the work of a certain Fox, though that was the generalized opinion of the civilians that were present. The shinobi, in the other hand, despite their indifference toward the blond genin, could not help but to be impressed by said genin's performance. This was not the useless annoying prankster that had been the bane of their existence for so long. This was a dedicate soldier at the service of their village.<p>

Naruto of course, was ignorant of the reactions that he had caused among the audience, thinking in the flavor of the Ramen of Victory when all of this was done for, and he could celebrate his promotion to chuunin. When the blond reached the balcony, he was received with mixed reactions. Everybody was focused on him, like he was a creature that came down from the starts; ridiculously, right?

Surprisingly, Shikamaru was the one that approached him first, with a puzzled, calculating glint in his eyes.

"Naruto, what the heck was that all about? How did YOU beat Neji?" His tone was bored, and if sounded like he was just asking for politeness sake, but Naruto knew better.

"Why, Shikamaru, did my _badassery_ baffle your mind? Just don't think about, don't try to understand it, because if you do, your head will blow off at my sheer awesomeness?" said Naruto boasting without restraint while his chest puffed out in pride.

Shikamaru just murmured a 'troublesome' while giving up in trying to dig for some information and returned to lay back against a coulomb in a corner where he could see the clouds above the arena. The others just rolled their eyes at his antics while Shino seemed to look his way for a couple of seconds longer than the rest, it was difficult to say with those shades of his, before turning his gaze back to the stadium. It was Sabaku no Gaara, his fellow jinchuuriki, who stood there, facing him from a few steps afar, with his creeping calmed face on him while he was releasing increasing amounts of KI against the blond.

"Gaara," said Naruto, becoming the center of attention again, "we gonna finish our conversation IN the matches; wait only then." Naruto said the last part with his usual 'foxy' grin on his face, but his tone was dead serious.

Both Temari and Kankuroo thought that the blond had dig his own tomb, and that he was a few steps far from the gates to hell. It was comprehensible them that, instead of witnessing a carnage like they expected to, the older Sabaku siblings were in shock when their little, psychopath brother nodded in acceptances before calming down his KI. For some reason, this unforeseen turn of events scared them more than the open killer that Gaara was. After waiting enough time to determine that they weren't under some sort of genjutsu, both Sunanin relaxed, removing their hands from their weapons of choice.

That settled, Naruto, seemly oblivious to his surroundings, started to talk to Shikamaru about his awesomeness.

Nobody would know, only later, that this new Naruto was the byproduct of a series of eye-opener facts that crushed the blonde genin one after another during the month of preparation that that the Chuunin Exams participants were given.

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><p><strong>(A MONTH AGO)<strong>

"_Fucking Kakashi- hypocrite- sensei!"_ Thought Naruto bitterly while thinking his recent conversation with his 'sensei' in the hospital, where the Cyclops had told him, not exactly on those terms, that he passed Naruto over another sensei so he could train Sasuke. _"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke. Why everything goes to him? Isn't my hard work worth something? Aren't Sakura-chan and I important also…?" _"Sakura-chan! She too was left with the short stick this time. I need to find her and let her see how much spoiled Sasuke is by sensei. Maybe she would accept to train with me."

Awed by his own intelligence, the blonde genin went to search his pinkett crush while grinning like a fool at the prospect of training seasons with Sakura-chan.

* * *

><p>"I'm sorry Naruto, but I don't have the time for this."<p>

"But Sakura-chan, at least heard me out."

An annoyed sigh. "Okay, what do you want? And I swear to Kami that if this is one of your attempts to ask out in a date I will castrate you… with a spoon."

A shiver went through Naruto's spine while he covered protectively his family jewels. It seemed that his teammate wasn't in a good mood; he didn't know that she was actually passing through the monthly period and it had her more… irritated than usual.

"It is not like that Sakura-chan." Her raised eyebrow clearly said how much she believed his statement. "It is that Kakashi-sensei disappeared to train Sasuke-teme somewhere, and had forgotten about us. Do you want to train with me?"

If Sakura had been in a calmer mood, she would have acknowledged the truth in Naruto's words, but at the moment, she was highly emotional unstable and, when she heard him insulting, as usual, her dear Sasuke-kun, blinding rage took control of her and her mouth, yelling things that, under normal circumstances, she would have kept quiet.

"First of all, Naruto, don't ever, NEVER, insult Sasuke-kun in my presence. Second, stop being such a nuisance. You have asked me to go out or train with you like hundreds of times and every single of those times I had told you the same answer. I'm not interested in you any way, shape or form. I don't like you, I don't want to be with you or go out with you. You are a dobe, and you will ever be a dobe if you cannot understand a simple answer like that. Maybe Kakashi-sensei don't want to train you because you are useless and a waste of time if you cannot act more up to your rank. You are not a kid anymore, grow up, be more like, like Sasuke-kun." At some point, Sakura didn't seem to notice, she started to yell while stabbing with her finger Naruto's chest.

Each stab was like a kunai slicing his heart, and somehow he found himself in the floor facing the calm blue sky above him. He felt numb, or to be more precisely, he didn't knew what to feel. So he did what he always did ever since he could remember.

Picking himself from the floor, Naruto shook the dust from his jumpsuit and then faced Sakura, who became quiet all of a sudden, with his usual foxy grin.

"You are right Sakura, I'm sorry for bother you. I will be training in one of the grounds, seeya later." And with that, Naruto walked off until he was out of sight.

Sakura, calmer, realized that maybe she had said things that she shouldn't. Making a mental note to apologize to Naruto later, the girl continued her way to Ino's house.

It would be a couple of days later, while looking for Naruto to apologize, without success, that she noticed that he didn't add '-chan' when he said goodbye after her tongue lashing.

* * *

><p>"<em>Am I wrong? Have I been mistaken all this time?" <em>Life had been a harsh experience, to put it lightly, to Naruto. He had undergone through a lot of challenges and adversities that would had crushed a lesser men. But Naruto felt, KNEW, that, deep down, if he give up, if he surrender, he would not be able to stand up ever again. And so he did the best of hi could, as many times as it was needed, until things started to go better, if a little. Did it made a difference in the end?

Distracted by his depressing thoughts, the blond didn't notice where he was going, and thus, he ended bumping into someone.

"I'm sorry sir, I wasn't paying attention." Said Naruto quickly, before looking the annoyed expression of a ninja, or what it seemed annoyance. To tell the truth, Naruto could not be sure because the man had bandages around midway his face like Kakashi's face mask, which brought in to mind the face of the eyebrowless freak, Zabusa. The man had long spiky and smooth black hair and brown, pale eyes. He had a green chuunin best but a mesh shirt could be seen under it; camouflage pants and a pair of fingerless gloves completed his pro's look alongside his muscular arms. And his eyebrows were raised in wonder. "Etto… I would be in my way." And with that, Naruto run out of sight before the chuunin decided to ask for some form of compensation.

The chuunin himself had been distracted about some things that needed to be done in his house when the resident jinchuuriki bumped into him. At first he hadn't recognized him, but it clicked seconds later. He could see in his eyes that the kid was troubled by something, and it was unpleasant, and then it shifted to remorse when he notice carelessness, and then to wariness. The chuunin wasn't even trying to read him, the kid was way too expressive.

"_So, that's Uzumaki Naruto… He has the same complexion as you…Kushina. This was the first time that I had seen him face to face, and yet I could recognize you in him._" Thought the man, sadly, not that it shown through his mask. "_That kid is way too open for his own good. Maybe I should check on him…_" And like that, the chuunin begin to track down the orange clad genin.

* * *

><p>It took him more time that he thought it would. After 45 minutes, the chuunin found Naruto hitting a training post with a kunai in random patterns. It didn't resemble any training method that he knew of, but, then again, there were many things that he didn't know. After watching the kid battering the poor training post for more than 20 minutes without stop, the chuunin learnt many things from the blonde genin, no words were needed, and he now knew that he was only hitting the wood thing as much as he could as best as he could, and hoping for the best.<p>

"That is a interesting way to do wood carving." Said the chuunin, after silently shunshin behind Naruto, who jumped in total surprise. "Yo, koso!"

"EEPP! YOU! Don't do that!"

"What, did I scare you?"

"I'm too awesome to be scare by the likes of you. I was just… surprised."

"That's too bad, koso; in our line of work, surprise can kill easier than a kunai would."

"I got it, ousan, what do you want? I told you sorry already forpumpingg on you, I was distracted."

"Well, I'm kind of bore at the moment. Do you want to have a light spar with me? I think it can help you in your training and me, it would help as a warming up. Not a bad deal, ne?, koso."

Naruto's eye twitched in annoyance. This old man was pissing him off quite fast.

"Alright! I will kick you ass and made you recognize how much of a badass I'm."

"Yeah, yeah. Prove it, koso… By the way, the name's Ushio Benkei, what's yours?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage-ttebayo!"

"_Yep. He's definitely your son, Kushina."_

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><p>Naruto was sweating profusely on the floor, unable to move. His muscles were sore and his breathing was hard and pronounced. Standing next to him, Ushio Benkei was looking at him with a blank expression.<p>

"_Holy crap!_" thought Naruto. "_First I tried to summon 20 clones or so and, instead, I summon like a hundred, and, never minding that, this crappy ousan destroyed them in less of the half of a second with only a kunai and taijutsu… and made it look way too easy. Is this a chuunin? How big is the gap between our ranks?_"

"You know, when you summoned so many shadow clones I was expecting something more… well, I was expecting something more, especially from the _future_ Hokage."

"SHUT UP, OUSSAN! I WILL NEVER GIVE UP! I WILL SHOW HOW AWESOME I'M- DATTEBAYO!"

"And yet, you only made yourself look like a fool." Benkei answered him with a flat tone.

Naruto's eyebrow would have twitched if it wasn't that the genin was way too exhausted to move; a first for him.

"Tell me, koso," said Benkei after few moments of silence, "why are you training so hard? Why alone?"

"Because I need to beat Neji-teme in the Chuunin Exams' Finals!"

"Wait! Are you telling me that YOU are participating in the chuunin exams?!" asked a visibly surprised chuunin. "You are not putting my leg in this one, are you?" Somehow, his incredulity wasn't noticed much by Naruto who was mentally ranting about this old fart disclaiming his accomplishments. "Who is your sensei, and why he is not with you?"

"Kakashi-_sensei_ disappeared with the _teme_ to train him!"

"Your jounin is Hatake Kakashi?! Holy… And who is this _teme_ that is more important to him that his own student?"

"Uchiha Sasuke, my other teammate."

"That… made a lot of sense, I guess." Replied Benkei reluctantly; he didn't seem too happy with it either.

"What?! You too also think that the teme is better than me and thus need the training more than I do?" the bitterness in Naruto's voice was obvious to anyone in hearing range, and yet, it seemed that it was aimed to himself more than the fact that his sensei favored his teammate above him. This, more than anything, highlighted what kind of personality the genin had.

"_And yet, is not surprising, considering that he is your son, Kushina."_ "I didn't say that, koso, so stop putting words in my mouth that aren't mine."

"Sorry, oussan."

"Still, this situation…" but whatever he was about to say was cut short by a coughing fit that Naruto associated with the sickly looking chuunin in the preliminaries in the Forest of Death. "I'm sorry koso, we need to cut this meeting short because I have an appointment in the hospital."

"It is okay old man, thanks for the spar."

"It was fun, alright? But koso, you need to improve your chakra control, aside from your taijutsu. I assume that you know of the three climbing exercise." Naruto nodded. "Well, try it again, it doesn't matter if you had mastered it yet, there is always room for improvement. Take it as a friendly advice." And with that the man disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"Man… when I will learn something as cool as that." Murmured Naruto before standing up and launching himself toward a tree to climb it as he did in Wave… just to fell flat after climbing a couple of steps.

"Okay, this will be tougher than I thought."

* * *

><p>"I am going to be frank with you, Benkei-san, <em>it<em> had gotten worst." Said the iryuo-nin, Dr. Natsume Gekka.

He was a veteran of the last Shinobi War and a medic-nin of the highest caliber. Having retired of the ninja forces after the War where he lost his family, the old man had been dedicating the rest of his days to heal others. Benkei was one of his old and frequent patients that he was in charge of.

"How much time do I have left?" asked Benkei while put his vest back on.

"Tops? I'll say five to eight weeks."

"Nothing can be done?"

"The only one that may have a chance to give you more time would be Tsunade-sama, but she is not here, and even _she_ would be hard pressed to do something about. I'm sorry Benkei-san."

"Thank you doc. I… need to think about a couple of things. I may not come back for a while."

"I understand. I advice you… I advise you to use what time you have left to put in order your things."

Benkei nodded, before stepping out of the doctor's private office.

The doctor sighed before returning to the documents in front of him. It was always hard to tell a patient about his or her terminal condition.

* * *

><p>Ushio Benkei was lost in thought. Mindlessly, he wandered through the village without a destination in mind. He neither registered being hungry nor tired from his aimlessly walk, only emotionally numb, while his mind fought, without success, to stay black, to not think about anything. It was a battle that he was losing.<p>

"_It seems,_musume_, that I will see you again soon. I wonder if I will go wherever you are." _His melancholic thoughts took impulse in a different location. "_Ne, Kushina-chan, what you would have done in my place? Probably you would have shred it off before stuffing yourself with ramen._" That last thought made him laugh. "_Kushina-chan, I don't know what to do._" The face of certain blonde genin lying on the ground flashed through his mind. "_I met your son, Kushina; acts like you. Is that your answer? Then… Then, now I know what I can do._"

* * *

><p>The sky was dyed in orange colors, announcing the approaching dusk.<p>

"KUSO!" yelled a frustrated Naruto after falling to climb a tree with chakra for the hundredth time. He had spent all day trying to climb the tree and had failed time and time again. He felt how his chakra was fluctuating way to chaotic, like it was attacking itself inside him, and was out of his control. "Dammed, why I can't do this?"

"Because you are trying _too _hard." Said a voice behind him, that startled him in surprise.

"Oussan! What are you doing here?"

"Well, I wanted to check on you and see how you were doing. Had you been trying to the Tree Climbing Exercise since I left?" Naruto nodded. "And yet, you hadn't progress at all, even when you said that you knew this stuff, koso."

"Tell me, koso, do you want me to train you up to readiness for the Chuunin Exams?"

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And cut!

I short chapter after so long without publishing anything, I know, but one that I wanted to do nonetheless. I will spend next, and possible the one after it, chapter to cover what happened during that month between the preliminaries and finals, and how this knew Naruto came around.

Some of you may point out that this Naruto is too childish for his own good, well, if think so then you are correct. I tried to portraying that way because he IS a kid and a brat at this point in cannon. Admit it, he hadn't too much of emotional grow for something until Jiraiya came into the picture later on.

Also, about Sakura's behavior. I am not justifying her attitude, because she is truly a bratty girl, but, can you blame her? Her claims were valid, even if the way that she delivered them wasn't, so, yeah. Thought, she would know in the future how much she screw up with a nice guy because of her pettiness.

And, about Naruto's abysmal chakra control here. Remember that he never made it to the meeting with Ebisu and, as a result, he never met Jiraiya, who was supposed to fix his seal over the screw over that Orochipepe gave him. Still, this will become a mayor issue for a while… one that I will exploit shamelessly.

And, about Benkei… Yep, he is an OC that I based on a pic that I found in google, and I posted in my profile, so go an check it.

R&R


	3. 3rd Wind: Tempest

**AN: **First of all, I want to apologized for the awful long delay. Not only in this fic, but with my other stories as well. Aside from life facts, I'm also writing a novel that is halfway done. It will be published, hopefully before April, and I had been concentrating all my efforts in it. And because of this, my fanfiction writing schedule is drastically reduce. I will try to update my stories each fifteen days, but if not, I will update them once a month at least. With luck, you will not have to wait long for the next chapter.

**Note: **This chapter is unbetaed.

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><p><strong>3rd Wind: Tempest<strong>

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><p><em>Before anything else, preparation is the key to success. ~Alexander Graham Bell<em>

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><p>(Last chapter)<p>

_"Tell me, koso, do you want me to train you up to readiness for the Chuunin Exams?"_

* * *

><p>(Now)<p>

10 days. That was how long he had been training under the masked chuunin, Ushio Benkei. It could be argued about how little could be done in such small time frame, and normally, Naruto would agree. Specially if he had dedicated 8 of those 10 days solely focused in chakra control. Uzumaki Naruto, hyperactive number one knucklehead ninja, shuddered at the amount of chakra control exercise that he had undertaken the last week without stop. Not even the sheer variety of them (who knew that so many chakra control exercise existed in the first place) helped his boredom after a while. The monotony was mind numbing, and his focus was stretched beyond its limits. And yet, he was on the ground, his breath was elaborated, his skin was pale and the sweat poured of his body like a cascade. He never had been so close to chakra exhaustion, heck, he never knew what it was until know. He barely could feel his limbs and his muscles were aching like a bitch.

_::... Since you know the Shadow Clone jutsu, your training will be different than anybody else. Did you discover the trick behind your signature technique?...::_

And with that question, Ushio Benkei had taught him more than any other, bar Iruka-sensei, about ninjutsu. He never knew that he had the ultimate training tool at his disposal. Oh, how much he could learn! The opportunities, for both fighting and pranking...

_::... You other glaring weakness is your taijutsu. You have good reflexes, kid, I will give you that. But you need a form of your own, and, sadly, your high speed regeneration is more a disadvantage than an advantage in that aspect because you will never be able to build muscle fast enough. But don't worry; once you learn chakra control, all your problems will be solved...::_

He was skeptical at first, but he had to admit, once he had obtain perfect chakra control, he all the ninja techniques were in his reach.

* * *

><p>(15 days)<p>

The Academy had 22 fighting taijutsu styles that were adapted versions of known martial arts. Taijutsu and Martial Arts were two different things. The former was the way to terminated someone using hand-to-hand combat; the latter was, as its name implied, and art, steps for the ultimate physical conditioning and fitness.

Naruto had 4300 clones, his limit so far, of which 2200 of them were practicing said academy taijutsu styles. 100 clones for each style.

Admittedly, there were out there a lot more taijutsu styles that were more advanced and refined, but the academy ones were the basis for any further training in that aspect,thus they were taught to the ninja hopefuls as a requirement.

To graduate, it was required from each student proficiency in at least two of the styles, unless you were a member of a clan with their own taijutsu style. It was a rule that benefitted those blessed with clans, but it served well the ninja population. Naruto, he being who and what he is, was sabotage in this aspect, and any other aspect of being a shinobi, by the teachers that weren't named Umino Iruka.

And so, Naruto decided, that he would show them how awesome he could be by learning ALL the taijutsu, and mastering them, as he would do with every single aspect of the path of the ninja.

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><p>(18 days)<p>

_::... Now that you had learn all the basic taijutsu styles, you will have to incorporate them in something that suits you. This is called a Personal Style, and is basically learning katas from different other styles and modify them to your own needs. I told you that your best qualities were your quick thinking on your feet and your instinctual adaptation while going with the flow. Those qualities will serve you well in the creation of your own Personal Style.::_

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><p>(22 days)<p>

**:: Oh, my jailer came to pay me a visit. What do you want, you disgusting bag of flesh and bones?!::**

"Shut up, you oversized furball, I don't have the time for your usual ramblings. I want to know something and you may know the answer."

**::Watch your tongue, brat! I have eaten beings superior to you even before your kind came down from the trees! Now, what do you want to know?::**

"It's my chakra. Ever since I had gained perfect control over it, I feel something wrong in it, like it is... sickly and unnatural."

**::Oh, so you notice. Well, that's because your chakra is becoming poisonous.::**

"What?! What have you done?!"

**::I DID NOTHING, INSOLENT BRAT! It is the seal that had been warped in the the wrong way. Remember that freak ninja in the forest? The one that wiped the floor with you and your teammates? He placed another seal on top of the one that is holding me on you, disrupting your chakra flow and mixing it with mine.:: **

"And that is bad?!"

**::Stupid human! Your kind was never made to withstand the power that belongs to us, demons. If I had been sealed in another person that wasn't you, my chakra would have eroded and killed him or she in matter of hours.::**

"Then, how I..."

**::It's because your family legacy. Don't you have notice that you heal faster than normal, that broken bones mended themselves in matter of hours and cuts are gone in seconds?::**

"Family legacy? Do you mean that I have a... bloodline?!"

**::That's what I said, you stupid brat. It seems that one of your parents was a descendant of the plaything of one of the Kamis that used to walk on the land. The only reason that you are still alive is because your body heals itself as fast as my chakra damages it. But even them, great quantities of my power will eventually kill you in irreversible ways if you are not careful, and by extensions, it will affect me as well. And now, with the stupid seal over the other one, the balance of the chakra and the original seal filter totally twisted, your body is slowly been corroded from inside out.::**

"What can we do then?"

**::Well, there may be something that can be done...::**

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><p>(26 days)<p>

_::Well, know that you had visit your girlfriend in the hospital.. "HINATA-CHAN IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND"... and now that your chakra is perfectly under your control, I think I can teach you one technique. It is a special move of my that I obtained modifying the Body Flicker jutsu. It is called __**Anpou**__ (Shadow Step) and it...::_

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><p>(28 days)<p>

_::... I have to admit, your Personal Style is impressive, but still can be worked on a lot more. Only experience will help you to improve it. Now, with the couple of days left before the match, there is too little that we can do. Instead of teaching you something knew I will teach you something that will help you in the future. A great ninja once said _"Good ninjas learn many techniques, but great ninjas create their own."_ Naruto, I will teach the basis of jutsu creation. This will be the last lesson I will give you, and it will not be much since the creation of a brand new jutsu depends alot on the creator, but at least I can give you some tips.::_

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><p>(31 days, the of the Chuunin Exam Finals)<p>

Today he was resting for the rigorous training that Benkei-sensei had unleashed on him. One of the tips that the chuunin had passed to him for jutsu creation was that it was better to start with his own element, and to helping him further, he gave him a small paper that splitted in two when he channeled some chakra through it.

He was a wind wielder, one of the most versatile (as Benkei-sensei told him in a very envious tone) elements around. He didn't taught him anything further, since they didn't have the time and Naruto need to rest, not because physical exhaustion, but because possible mental fatigue after his vicious training.

And Naruto did rest, maybe not for long, but he did. Now, a mere hours before his first match, he decided to train a little bit to kill his boredom, and thus, he tried to get a hold of his wind affinity using his chakra as medium.

With 1000 thousand clones helping him at the same time.

He could use now 5300 clones max at any given moment, before having difficulty to stand up, but for him it was good enough. And of the the 1000 that he had summoned to start with, only 50 remained.

He didn't knew it, but he had mastered the first step of nature manipulation, something that was very difficult to achieve by any other means. Oblivious of the magnitude of his accomplishment, Naruto decided that he could do some experimenting around.

Dispelling the remaining 50 clones, Naruto concentrated his chakra under his feet while converting it into dense air. After some minutes of doing this, and with all the mental focus that he was capable of, the blond jinchuuriki started to levitate a couple of centimetres above the ground.

Unknown to him, Benkei was hiding on a tree, watching awed how his student had, contrary to his order of rest, discovered the trick of flying (it totally baffled him how the blond was labeled as the dead last in the academy if said blond had obtained something that he had only hear rumours of being mildly possible). Still, the brat had disobeyed him, and thus, he need to scared him a little bit.

Body Flickering behind the blond as silent as possible Benkei went for the kill.

"Yo! What are you doi...?"

But he couldn't finish because, since Naruto had not heard his arrival, was distracted by the voice behind him. A distraction that cost him the control and focus on his chakra, which resulted in several things.

Sending a lot more chakra that he intended to his feet, the blond was launched like a rocket through the air in the direction of the Stadium. Lucky he was nearby. Benki on his part, the propulsion force of the Blond Human Rocket send him crashing against a nearby tree faster than he could perform a Substitution technique. He was almost knocked out, and lucky he had reacted instinctively and softened the impact against the tree reinforcing his back with chakra.

"Ouch. That hurt. I hope the gaki is well. Or he will thanks to his freaking fast regeneration... probably..."

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End.

Yep. That's it. I apologized with it looked rushed or too fragmented, but it was intentional. I don't plan to go in detail about his training, since I prefer to reveal bits and bits through the chapters to come.

Obviously, there were somethings that were left out, like Naruto's visit to Hinata in the hospital and, as it was hinted last chapter, Naruto's confrontation with Gaara. I also hide some things for his training, things that will have repercussions in the plot, but I assured you that many of the things that I have mapped out for this story are, some hinted and some in the open, in this chapter.

Well, worship The Log and R&R.


	4. 4th Wind: Gale

**AN: **Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, I updated this soon (at least for me). This chapter is short, but is serves as a interlude for the next couple of chapters.

**To answer some reviews:**

devilzxknight86**: **yep! Benkei took advantage over Naruto's shadow clones to help him to speed up his training. But more than speed up, was like a catch up with everything that Naruto failed to grasp during his Academy Days (a.k.a as biased teachers with a collective sabotage mission against our blond hero.)

c im am a dragon: Believe me, better things are yet to come.

war12345: Here is more for you.

Caelen12: Thanks.

wacko12: Thanks, and I think that the title of the story is self explanatory, but wind will not be his only skill in his arsenal.

**note: **This chapter is unbetaed.

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><p><strong>4th Wind: Gale<strong>

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><p>(The present)<p>

After Sabaku no Kankuro suspiciously forfeited his match against Shino, and after Shikamaru pretty much owned Sabaku no Temari in his long (and in Naruto's opinion, totally boring) match just to forfeit as well, the crowd was ready for blood when Sabaku no Gaara, jinchuuriki of the Ichibi no Shukaku, Susa Shunshin himself to the arena. Naruto was completely sure that, if he was the one being late, he would have been disqualified on the spot, but this is The Uchiha that we are talking about, thought Naruto bitterly.

And just for the sole purpose of making an entrance Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke appeared in front of the waiting Sunanin just in time.

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><p>Giving his half assed excuse, Kakashi flashed away to the spectators' stands where the jounin-senseis stood.<p>

The genins didn't waste time and started right away, with the proctors shunshin-escape as cue.

Sasuke, wanting the upper hand, launched a frontal assault of shuriken, that were met by a raising wall of sand, but that wasn't his purpose. Not waiting for a retaliation, the Uchiha changed his charge to the left, this time with a Great Fireball Jutsu, which was meet with a wall of sand, again.

Suddenly, the Uchiha appeared at Gaaras left, in the opposite direction, and threw a batch of kunais. When the sand reacted in Gaara's defense, a sudden explosion engulfed the area, dispersing the sand all way through the arena. And, like before, Sasuke appeared right in front of Gaara, midway of a upper kid. The redhead eyes widened for a second by the surprised proximity and couldn't react to the kid that connected at the side of his neck.

A loud sickening crack was heard through the stadium, telling about a really dangerous set of bones breaking, surprising the spectors. Bu8t none of them were as surprised as Sasuke himself when, a second later, the stunned Gaara crumbled in a pile of hollowed sand.

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><p>"So, he he took me seriously, after all." Murmured, calling the attention of the others in the stand, but he paid them no mind while still focussing on the battle below. <em>"This is already over. Sorry Sasuke, but you wasted your opportunity."<em> The blond finished in his thoughts, while preparing himself to go over there and find out which _answer_ between he and his fellow Container was right.

* * *

><p>Before Sasuke could land on the floor, sand raised from the ground at a tremendous speed, enclosing of the Uchiha, while Gaara emerged from the ground like his was made of earth and sand themselves.<p>

"You are too weak." Said the monotone and psycho voice of the Sunanin, before raising his hand, ready to crush his caught pray with his signature move. Sadly, he was about to be denied, because as soon as his open palm closed, the sound of crushing wood could be heard.

It seems that the Konoha genin was demonstrating why he was the rookie of the year. The crowd was cheering loudly for the Uchiha, excited for the amazing display of skill that the fighters were showing. Gaara saw himself in the middle of incoming kunais and shurikens with explosive tags attached to them. Like before, the sand came in his defense, protecting the redhead from the heat, the shockwave and the metal that seemed to swallow him whole.

And before the sand could fell down back to the earth, the chirping sound of thousand of birds was heard through the station.

* * *

><p>"Kakashi, you taught your student a A-Class Assassination technique?! Are you out of your mind?!"<p>

"Ma ma, Kurenai. You should know that I didn't do it lightly. Sasuke had demonstrated that he was ready for it. And it is obvious that he would need it in this battles. Still, he could have used in a better way."

Sakura, who wasn't far ahead seated with Ino and Kiba, had listened the discussion between the jounins, also as Asuma told a bossy Ino how Kakashi-sensei had created the jutsu that Sasuke was displaying at the moment and how their sensei had cut a lighting with it, hence it's name as the Lighting Edge.

It was a sight to behold: Uchiha Sasuke standing vertically on one section of the stadium's walls, with visibly lighting around his bandaged right arm. And Sakura, for a reason, had a flashback about something that her other teammate told her a month prior.

* * *

><p>(Flashback)<p>

_"It is not like that Sakura-chan." Her raised eyebrow clearly said how much she believed his statement. "It is that Kakashi-sensei disappeared to train Sasuke-teme somewhere, and had forgotten about us..."_

(End of flashbakc)

* * *

><p>Watching his blond teammates display, and her crush's, Haruno Sakura started to realize how weak she was in comparison with her teammates, and was starting to regret her brush off of the only one of them that paid her some attention.<p>

* * *

><p>After a paused, that gave the sensation of lasting minutes, Sasuke launched himself from the wall, at speeds that were impossible to follow with normal eyes, with his right arm , sustained by his left though the wrist, covered by the lighting singing a requiem with thousands of birds as one.<p>

Gaara, with his stoic face never wavering, raised his left arm, like it was a sword, while particles of sand floating around the extended arm, in rapid swirling patterns, before lowering said arm in a severing motion in front of him directed at the incoming genin, whispering in his even deep voice the name of his attack.

"**Sabaku no Ken"**

Sasuke was running so fast that he only noticed with his actived Sharingan the ground opening in a clean cut below his feet. Suddenly, pain exploded from his shoulder while he continued his mad raced against the impenetrable sand that was raising in the redhead's defense.

An it was then that he noticed, to his horror, how the Sharingan registered with painful exactness and precision, how his now severed arm was falling to the floor, lighting dissiping now that its connection with its source was cut.

"AHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAAHA". The Uchiha screamed, before being hit by a wave of sand.

* * *

><p>Naruto knew then and there that, if he didn't did nothing, his teammate, no matter how annoying he was, would be dead in the next few seconds. Reacting on instinct, the blond channeled chakra to his feet and launched himself to the arena at the same time that the proctor with a sembom needle on his mouth, called of the match, giving the victory to the Sunanin.<p>

Naruto, for the surprised of Genma, as well as the other ninja, spectors, and other participants, who haven't registered the blonds disappearance yet, reappeared next to the sand- engulfed Sasuke, and pulled him out of it forcefully, throwing him at Genma with one swing, as Gaara retreated the sand that was ready to crush the Uchiha like an insect.

"Next match: Uzumaki Naruto vs Sabaku no Gaara. Hajime!" Before shunshin out the way with the bleeding Uchiha over his shoulder, taking him to the medics for emergency treatment, somehow taking the severed arm with him as well.

* * *

><p>Kabuto, hidden among the public, was genuinely surprised by the turn of the events. Remembering the last minute modification of the invasion plans, did a long string of handsings, before slamming his palm on the floor. As cue, a dome of light surrounded the fighting arena, trapping both jinchuurikis in it in one of the most powerful barriers that Orochimaru's wight hand knew of: a <strong>Spiritual Ward<strong>.

A barrier specifically designed for dealings with jinchuurikis and demon-like beings.

Immediately, taking advantage of the stunned surprise of the people in the stadium, he did another set of hand signs, casting a wide area genjutsu, while the Hokage stand exploded in flames, signalizing the beginning the joint invasion of Hidden Sound and Hidden Sand to the Hidden Leaf.

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An Cut.

How evil I feel, leaving hanging you with such a clif. Anyways, this is the beginning of the the real plot going on. Many of you will notice how things seemed out of place or way too different from the chuunin exam battles. Well, that was the point. Don't worry, any of the discrepancies that you may find will be explained.

By the way, the attack that Gaara used is based on a sand attack from one of the characters in the _One Piece _anime. Any guess he/she could be and what's the original attack's name?

And yes, Gaara pretty much cut clean form the shoulder Sasuke's arm.

R&R


End file.
